Wednesday, November 17, 2010

So it's been a while. It's been a strange past couple months. I managed to get my submission for Quilt National 2011 submitted by the due date thanks to FedEx. While I like the piece I knew right off it wouldn't be good enough for Quilt National. My goal with the piece was just to submit something for a juried show. That was my resolution for 2010 and I succeeded.

When I got the rejection email I wasn't surprised. What I was surprised about was that I still felt a little bit sad. I knew it was coming but it still stung a little bit. I put so much time and energy into the piece and even knowing the rejection was coming I still had a tiny little bit of hope.

The sad thing in a way is that I haven't worked on anything artistic since. I started working on holiday gifts and then it was the final training runs for the Chicago marathon on 10-10-10. That alone took up a lot of time. I finished that marathon which now puts my marathon/half marathon record at 4 marathons and 2 half marathons completed.

Right after the marathon I started a fitness class at my gym. It's kinda funny. I've always disliked working out. Growing up all I wanted to do was read. I dreaded gym class and stopped taking it when I had the choice. I didn't go on walks or runs or hikes or do any biking. I had no desire to get into any physical fitness. I only started doing marathons because my sister wanted to do the Disney marathon. I signed up also and made it 8 miles before getting pulled out because I was slow. That embarrassed me so I went home and signed up for the Chicago marathon to redeem myself (they allow slow people to finish on the sidewalk). I kept signing up for races for my health (not to mention I didn't gain weight while training).

This year I finally realized that training for full marathons took up too much of my time. I am so slow that when it came to long runs, they took up my entire day. That's a whole day just spent out on the bike path trying to get my miles in. It was so frustrating and I rarely looked forward to it. So I decided there would be no more full marathons. At least not until I could get faster and more in shape.

My first step was to sign up for a class at my gym. I love my gym. I've joined 4 different gyms, a different one each year, before I finally felt at home at one. My current gym is my 5th and final gym. I've been a member since 2007 and never once thought of quitting.

The class I am in is Move It to Lose It. There are 3 other women in the class with me and our trainer really pushes us. It's rough. It's really rough. Especially when she has us going up and down 5 flights of stairs. Illinois is very flat so training outside is pretty easy. There are no ups and downs to worry about. Running up and down 5 flights of stairs is HARD! And we all know not to complain because then we will do those stairs more often. *laugh*

The class is part fitness and part diet. Only not dieting, more like focusing on what we eat and how much. We keep a diet and fitness log book. That first week of writing down what I eat and then calculating calories was frightening. I knew my portions were too large but when I started to focus on portion control I found I actually started to lose weight. Just working out wasn't enough.

Yeah, everyone knows it takes both eating better and exercise but until you actually start writing down what you eat, you just don't realize how out of control portion sizes are. I even cut back on my beer intake which is where a lot of my calories were coming from. I still have a beer each night but between cutting back on that second or third bottle and being more aware of my portion sizes I have actually started to lose weight. To the point where I am now at a number I haven't seen on my scale in 5 years. I am finally getting back my health and figure by doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. And I am not giving up foods, it's all about portion control. It also helps that our trainer looks at our food diary and makes comments about how we are doing and we have a weekly weigh-in.

I'm not trying to be all preachy. But I do feel better about myself. I actually look forward to my class (although I do hate it while I am in the middle of it) because I know I am getting fit. I have to be more aware because I have the family genes where I could become rounder than I am tall and that scares me. This class has been incredible and I am actually sad it will be ending soon. I want to sign up again.

My next goal is to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim with the boy and I won't be able to complete it without becoming more fit and being a healthier weight.

Not that this has anything at all to do with sewing. *laugh* But I have been so lax about updating here and I haven't had anything interesting to post about on the sewing front.

Except for the new cover I whipped up for my pretty new Kindle, Graphite Gertie. I adore my Kindle. It is the greatest electronic invention of all time!

My Etsy Shop

That random bio stuffs...

I am female, pro-choice, pro-gay rights, childfree, a pacifist, an environmentalist, a believer in the goodness of others, an atheist and an American who believes in the right to question those in authority and expect them to make intelligent decisions for my country. None of these things make me un-American or unpatriotic.